cutterschoice

I know there’s a lot of guides here and there, but thought I’d give it ago as questions seem to pop up more and more, I’ve made it as detailed as possible with pictures so I hope it helps at least one person, it's the first time i've done this, and it's taken ages so go easy, I have far to much time on my hands I know, I’ve tried to keep it not to long winded but that didn’t really work.

Step One: Install Football Manager, once installed download and install the latest 7.0.2 patch.

Step Two: Start FM07 up let it load up and create the game with leagues you want to play and add yourself as a manager, once created save the game, and close FM07.

Step Three: First thing to do is get a program called winrar, most of the downloads you’ll find for football manager will be in a .rar file which is a compressed file to save you time downloading, go to download.com and install winrar it’s a simple process, it normally comes with a trial period, if that expires just uninstall it and re-download it.

Step Four: Now the fun part, getting your graphics, there’s links below of some of the best sites to download graphics for fm, there’s loads out there, my apologise if I miss any, download your graphics and save them anywhere you want, just remember where you put them.

For this example, I’m going to download the best team in the game logos, kits, and player standard size pictures, and apply them to the game. Once downloaded locate the files (remember it pays to be organised it’ll help and save getting mixed up along the line) simply right click one by one and click extract here, that will then create a standard open folder the ones were all used to, you can then delete your .rar file or back it up in case you ever want to reinstall fm later down the line.

Step Five: Now for the question that's always asked, where do I put these now I’ve downloaded and extracted then? Some will tell you to put them into program files, now this isn’t incorrect, but applying patches can over write some of the default pictures, and as I know to well it’s all to easy to accidentally over write a file you shouldn’t have.

Open my computer, then your documents folder (it normally has your name on it), sports interactive folder, football manager 2007, here you’ll be presented with normally five folders, db, games, matches, skins and sounds, now create a folder called graphics, if you’ve never done this before, it’s easy, right click in a space, highlight new and click on folder, once grated click once on the folder name and rename it Graphics.

Step Six: Simply drop all of the graphics you created into that new graphics folder you just created, inside of the graphics folder you can even create other folders inside your graphics folder, like a folder called logos, one for face packs, anything you want if it makes it easier to stay organise, just remember don’t mess with the downloaded file it's self, don’t put anything inside of them, as it will mess up how there structured and could cause your game to crash.

Step Seven: Once done start the game back up, and load up your save game ready for playing, click F4 to switch to your squad screen, click on options, then preferences, then the display and sound tab on the right hand side of your screen, by default the skin cache option is ticked and the always reload on confirm is unticked, now all you have to do is the opposite, untick the use skin cache option, and tick the always reload skin on confirm.

Now for the scary part, but my favourite bit, click confirm on the bottom left side, and wait a few seconds, don't be worried about the loading, it can take a minuet or two depending on how many graphics you added and your system speed.

That’s it all of your lovely graphics should now be showing, you can then go back into preferences, display and sound, tick the skin cache option and untick always reload on confirm, then confirm at the bottom left.

I know this was long winded and as there's no preview button or edit function my apologises if this looks messed up, most already know how to do all of this, but if it helps one person that’s all that matters, if anyone has anything to add, or any links to graphics sites carry on, they will all help.

Helpful links:

sortitoutsi.net
FM Club
FMG Live

Cech2345

cutterschoice, thanks man, been waiting for a definitive version of how to do that, was having problems with it truth be told. Your instructions were the bomb mate, thanks loads...!

cutterschoice

No worries glad it helped, I’ve got a bit to add at the end, just a little trick for people that want to save a bit of space on there hard drive if they've got loads of added graphics, but I’ll do it tomorrow.

cutterschoice

Update

Once you’ve gone through everything in the first post, you can do this, even is you have only a few graphics added, but it’s most beneficial to those like myself who have gb on gb of added extras, this is a quick tip on how to free up some space on your hard drive, something no one could no want to do.

Reboot you computer, leave all applications closed including football manager, click start on the bottom left, then click the search option, that will open a new window.


On the left hand middle side click the all files and folders option, it has a green arrow next to it. Now type in the 'all or part of the file name': the word thumbs, then click on the more advanced options and tick search hidden files option.

Now click search and wait untill it has completed. Once complete it will look this, all you have to do is delete all of the transparent thumb files, you can see in the same picture there is one none transparent file, and a file with the internet explorer picture through it, best leave them alone, unless your happy there not part of your system, I’d just leave those two and remove the rest.

Now close the search window, empty your recycle bin and your away, you’ve just freed up a small but valuable space on your hard drive.

stinger24

thanks mate, your the don

laura200587

Brilliant thanks

EdwardHartley

Great post man, very informative, cheers.

latitude

i have done everything as described above to make a skin work but it does not!

cutterschoice

I've only used a few skins if I’m honest and that's only to check out peoples work, let me know what skin your having problems with, and I’ll do a bit on adding skins see if I can get it up and running.

latitude

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